You have the next Big Idea but you need help with finances and with execution to get it to market. You want to protect your Big Idea, but you know you can’t hide it under a rock from everybody. Some people are just going to have to know.

There are two ways under the law to protect a Big Idea—patent and trade secret. Patents are good because they keep other people from using your Big Idea whether they knew it was your Big Idea or not. But they are expensive, hard to get, and only last 20 years. Trade secret protection is limited to theft of your Big Idea, but it’s free or close to it, a lot easier to obtain than a patent, and it lasts for as long as you keep the Big Idea secret.

But how do you keep it secret and still get stuff done? Both trade secret law and patent law allow you to disclose your Big Idea on a “need to know” basis, as long as there are some basic protections in place. We incorporate those into Non-Disclose Agreements, which tell your investor or manufacturer that they can only use your Big Idea to decide whether they want to do business with you, or use your documentation in order to make products for you.